Cool 1970 photo of the Flint, MI engine plant

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by cook_dw

Keith not doubting you but I'm surprised to see big blocks from Tonawanda with no paint on the exhaust manifolds. Reason I say this is from every engine I have seen in either photos or in person from Ton (sb & bb) had the manifolds painted vs Flint where it doesn't seem like they were from photos and personal experience.

There is certainly variation between plants and even within the same plant (and across model years).

One would assume that engines in the same rack were assembled around the same period of time, so I would expect them to be similar to each other. Beyond that I am not surprised by variation.

I don't recall there being paint on the exhaust manifolds on my Chevelle, with a Tonawanda built 454 (1974 model year, build in Sept of 73).

K